Dedicated Bus / High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) Lane around CBD

Basically we need to have traffic cops monitoring bus lanes and issue tickets if any. This has been done throughout the world and even in India in Ahmeadabad and Delhi.

Apart from that, there are some devices which will allow only buses to enter which may be expensive.

MaheshK,

These roads are wide enough to incorporate this.

See this post posted earlier in Praja about how bus lanes are incorporated in London in very narrow roads:

http://praja.in/en/discuss/forums/2009/02/london-bus-lane-action-snap-shot

In India, we need a barricaded bus lane due to lack of discipline. Airport road is  4 lanes in one direction and KG Road is als 4 lanes wide. Same is the cases of other roads. Infact we could also have such a system in Mission road from Subbiah Circe to Lalbagh west gate, but the number of buses passing here is less compared to other places.

Pedestrains will be crossing the road in zebra crossings. Additionally, they can plan for skywalks on PPP model.

Traffic lights will be there as usual in junctions. But buses do not have to struggle with 2 wheelers and cars which will improve the speed of buses.

Worldover BRTS bus systems have been the thumbrule to increase the travel speed of people. Metro is constructed only as a last resort if roads are small and cannot afford.

Our ORR is also a candidate for a full fledge BRTS, and as per CIsTUP  report, we should have had a BRTS between Silkboard o Hebbal, but nowhere the project is going. Government spends money on flyovers encouraging more cars and more traffic, not on Public Transport apart from buying buses and fancy TTMCs.

Even cities in Pakistan like Lahore has started BRTS along with cities like Ahmedabad, Indore and Bhopal. Delhi and Pune failed due to not following BRTS standards as set by Bogota and Curitiba which has set standard for BRTS throught the world.

 Video on Lahore BRTS : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh7StCV_iUw

We always feel the road width is insufficient, but do not think how efficiently the road is being used. Single occupancy cars and SUVs is wastage of  precious road space and wide buses with high occupancy have to compete with them in vain. So more space has to be reserved for buses for better utilization of roads. Movement of people is important than movement of vehicles.

Hi SB, I have updated the map. I had the macros saved, copied back. Now it is looking OK, but not in centre.  While extracting, I have not centred it properly, not sure how to centre it without creating fresh macros.

We had a conversation here:

http://praja.in/en/~pune/blog/asj/2008/11/09/implementing-bus-priority-narrow-roads-proposal-submitted-pune-municipal-c

Again, videos from London for have a feel on how London Bus Lanes are done on narrow streets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY0VeiJ1fz8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFCilA4S-Ok

Our roads through Malleshwaram, mainly Margosa Road and Sampige Road are similar to this.

We could even allow private operators safely with BRTS on carriage contract basis, not safer without having BRTS. Already cabbies are making driving on Bangalore roads dangerous.

Hi MaheshK,

You said:

Things change every day. Back in 2007, Bangalore vehicle pop. was 25 lakhs. Now it is 47 lakh

Because of this only we need to prioritize Public Transport, otherwise no one would be able to move at all. Movement of people is more important than movement of vehicles. Everyone would love to use a big car and zoom through roads, but no one will be able to due to high density of traffic. If the vehicle density would have been lower, we would not have needed bus priority at all.

Dedicated bus lanes ruled out on narrow roads: PMC

It was half hearted effort by PMC without following any BRT standards as proposed by ITDP.  Same is the case in Delhi, they did not follow ITDP standards and did not study successful BRTs like Curitiba/Bogota.

I am not saying BRTS is the  complete solution for Bangalore, we need other modes like Metro / CRS / Monorail. BRTS can be considered in many places where there is sufficient space which would save crores of money to Government and downtime of roads to people.

Metro is not fully functional and also it does not touch core IT areas like Whitefield / EC. But even then people working in Bagmane Tech Park in CV Raman Nagar are using it and Indiranagar residents to reach MG Road which takes barely 8 minutes. Daily around 400 2 wheelers and around 150 cars are parked in Byappanahalli Station to reach the other part of the city.

If it would have reached any of the core IT areas or even KR Puram from Majestic, we would have seen better patronage which would happen after Phase 2 completion. Again, the immigration to Bangalore is increasing, especially in IT sector. So whatever the traffic being reduced by these infrastructure projects are immediately being filled up. That is why European cities have gone for congestion pricing to control the same which cannot be done in India due to strong Political Support.

Again in Margosa Road as well as Sampige Road, current scenario is two buses or two cars and a bus can pass through. The side parking needs to be moved to a central multistoried parking like done in JC Road and KG Road. Since two cars can pass along with a bus, it is definitely a candidate. All it needs is people's , politicians and local corporators will and mindset which is not there in India.

If we are using a private transport, we will always oppose such a move on the other hand if we use a bus and think in that perspective, we will then think in this direction.

This will also improve the safety of 2 wheeler riders.